Restoring Public Trust in Government

About 85% believe the tone and nature of American political debate has become more negative and less respectful, with 60% saying the discourse today focuses less on issues.5 Americans also believe political compromise could restore trust in the federal government and in each other.6 Lack ofTrust in Governments Is Global In the first cross-national survey of trust in democratic governments and public institutions, conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), only 40% of the more than 50,000 people surveyed across 22 member countries7 expressed trust in the public sector.8 OECD's trust framework, shown in Figure 2 includes five trust drivers, also applicable to U.S. governments, to capture the degree to which government institutions are responsive and reliable in delivering policies and services and act in accordance with values of openness, integrity and fairness. [...]governments must strive to become trusted sources of facts and truth, a status that only derives from proven transparency and accountability. Perhaps governments could report on program costs and impacts in ways that increase credibility and public understanding,15 or build a structure of third-party assurance and external assessments over performance information by credible independent organizations, similar to audited financial reports. Using independently verified facts, governments could more fully assess the impact of government programs and operations and determine how much Americans invest to get these results and whether better, more cost-effective alternatives exist. Since 75% of the populace views the federal government as wasteful and only 17% disagree,16 these numbers must be reversed.